Side Quest: Murder
by BecauseOf.ForYou
Summary: Just another adventure in Hyrule. Until, Link gets sent on an unusual side quest—this one involving not one, but multiple murders. What is going on? The monsters haven't invaded. The princess has just been a day missing. Could her captor be behind it? Or is it deeper than that?


_Disclaimer_: I don't own anything! Well, maybe a few made-up characters.

Is the murderer an in-game character or someone I made up? NOT TELLING! Enjoy!

**Ch 1 Missing**: Murderer

_8 days Before_

Mama and I baked pie for Papa today! We baked because I fell from the roof trying to get a cucco down. Mama said it was dangerous and that I should use a ladder instead of climbing but I'm okay. She scolded me but then gave me a hug and kissed the cut I got on my leg. She told me I should stay inside and we baked. Then I made Mama make salad for dinner because I felt sorry for the animals that died to become food. Papa thought I was being silly, but he was okay with it for one night a week as a compromise. And because I made such good pie.

_4 days Before_

I went to play in the sand today after my lessons. Mama says my calculating is good, but I need to practice reading more. I got frustrated and ran out. There was a huge ant hill in the sand, almost as tall as me. I wanted to climb the mound, but the ants would get all over me, so I got a bucket of water and poured it on the ant hill. I had to step back a bunch because the ants went crazy. It made me giggle. But then I thought of the little baby ants and felt sorry for them. They were all probably screaming. I got another bucketful of water and dumped it on them to send them farther from the hill. Then my feet started getting wet from stepping in the wet sand. It felt funny so I just went home.

I didn't tell Mama about the ants. I don't think she'd like the story because I did it for no reason. I don't think she'd be happy with me. I don't want her to think bad about me. I love Mama.

_2 day Before_

Mama saw me break the bird's leg. I didn't mean it, really. I was just holding the little thing. It was shaking and fragile. I wanted to see how fragile so I put pressure on the leg until it started screeching. Mama heard the screeching and came out. She yelled at me to stop. She took the bird and put it in the tree then took me inside. I was scared to get in trouble.

I told her I didn't mean it. But she grounded me because I didn't seem sorry enough or something.

_1 day Before_

Mama said she had to go out. I think she went to the town. I heard this last night:

"It could be bad if I don't go. I know I cast off my old life after marrying you, but I can't say no. I owe them too much," Mama said.

"I hate it, but I owe him, don't I? Even though they all hated us together to some degree... You should go. Thank one of the few allies we had," Papa told her.

Mama gave me a kiss on the head and went to town. She said I couldn't come because I would be bored. I wanted to be good, so I didn't argue and helped Papa do chores. I had time to play right before dinner though, so I went into the fields. Papa didn't notice. Mama would have been very angry at me. But she can't get angry at me for it this time!

Mama is very, very late. Papa told me to go to bed and that Mama will probably be home tomorrow, that she had to stay overnight to get something. I don't like Papa's cooking and I didn't like the look he had.

_4 days Missing_

Mama is officially missing. Papa has looked far and wide with no luck. He left me with a family friend. I am so scared.

I want them to find Mama!

_10 days Missing_

This is the dream I had. It was the scariest thing. This dream was even worse than the daydreams I had of bad things happening to Mama:

I was in a dark dungeon underground. It was so quiet it felt like there was pressure from everywhere around me. I heard myself breathing, quick and short gasps. I took a step forward and almost tripped on a rock. I picked it up and threw it as high and far as I could. It went up and up without hitting a ceiling and it fell very far so I guessed I was in some kind of giant cavern. I walked slowly. After a few minutes, I heard noises that sounded like crying. I turned to my left and found a wall. I walked with my hand against the wall until I found someone lying on the ground. It was Mama. I didn't feel happy to see her. She was all dirty and had her left hand tied in her skirt. She looked up at me. She looked scared of me, not for me but like I was bad. I knelt down next to her. She looked down at her arm, which was wrapped in her skirt. I saw blood. I asked her what was wrong. She showed me her hand. There was no hand, it was a stump. I screamed. "I can't get food because I'm chained here," she said. I cried. I told her I'd find us food. I got up and walked farther along the wall. In the darkness, I heard a twitter. It was a lost bird. It was too dark to see what color it was. I grabbed it and right away, snapped its neck. I was going to go back to Mama, but something furry walked over my bare feet. I screamed and hugged myself to the wall. And screamed again because on eye level with me was a squirrel on a rock that jutted out from the wall. I picked up a stone from the floor and bashed the squirrel's head. Then I took the dead things back to Mama. We ate them raw and it tasted good. Mama and I were there for days. I found less and less food. Then there was no more food. I started hearing noises at the back of the cavern. It was something big moving there. Mama and I got so hungry, we couldn't stand it. Eventually, Mama took a sharp rock and tore her flesh for us to eat. She only did this when I slept. As we ate more and more of Mama's flesh, the monster inched forward, hungry. Mama kept getting weaker and the monster kept getting closer. Then it devoured us both.

I woke up to a cucco. I didn't tell anyone about the dream.

All day today was horrible. Breakfast was cold, I stepped in animal poop, and dinner was yucky.

_Day 47 of Mama missing / Last day of innocence_

I woke with a start. I heard Papa grumbling as he got up. I listened for another second before hearing the knock. I guess that's what woke me. I heard Papa grumble, upset. But I was scared. It must be news about her—what else could it be? Mama had been missing for so long now. I lay trembling and listening hard. The man who gave the news came in to the house. I got up to peek. I could see Papa, standing facing the man with a blank face but I couldn't see who he was talking to.

"She was found in a cave between Gerudo Valley and Lake Hylia," the visitor said.

Papa didn't say anything.

"She was chained to the wall and starved to death," the stranger continued, "Would you like us to bring you her body?"

Papa was able to mumble a yes.

I went back to bed. I faced my pillow and screamed into it. So, she was starved. She died of no food. That must have been horrible.

Wait a minute, that guy said something strange. Powder?

_Day 1 of my new life_

When Papa came to wake me up, he didn't notice how red my eyes were from lack of sleep and crying because his were the same, but his were also glazed while mine were full of pain.

What does it feel like to live without sustenance? I wonder if Mama suffered terribly. It's awful sad.

_Day 7_

As out of it as he is, Papa noticed I wasn't eating more than a piece of bread and sips of water. He thought my avoidance was grief. I don't want to die; I just want to know how Mama felt. She must have been so lonely and scared. I curled up under my bed and cried. I am still scared.

_Day 8_

We buried Mama on a nice hill today. It was pretty even though it was so sad.

I had to ask Papa what I'd been thinking about:

"Are you mad at the person who did it?" I asked

"No, I'm just sad."

"Are you going to do anything to find him?"

"No, I'm going to let authorities do that and I'm going to keep working and looking after you," Papa gave me a hug after he said this.

I really miss Mama's cooking because Papa has barely gotten better.

_Day 23_

The other day, I was so upset. I was trying to sink into the silence but the stupid cuccos wouldn't shut up. Now, the blood of the loudest is smeared in the dirt. Then I locked up the others. I felt bad. The cucco hadn't actually done anything wrong. Before Papa came home, I mixed the bloody dirt with water and said sorry.

Their dying noises are echoing in my head.

_Day 24_

I dreamed about the monster again. I was standing at the mouth of the cavern, trying to close it with a giant boulder, but I couldn't move it. it was too big and heavy and there was no one to help me. I scratched my hands up so they bled. I licked the wounds. The blood didn't taste bad…

Papa woke me up to tell me he has business to attend to. I don't want to be alone. I am frightened of the monster and what it will do to me.

_Day 36_

I have gone 10 days without crying over Mama's death. I'm so lonely, but not as scared. I don't want to go around others though. All the other kids annoy me when Papa tells me go to town to play with them. When it gets dark, they all say they have to go home because their mothers told them to. I wish I could bash their heads against walls. Dan and Allie are especially annoying Allie is too nice and Dan is too mean. The other red-haired kid is really quiet, though. I should make friends. Who would want to be my friend? No one would understand what I've been through and they would all be scared of the monster. I'd have to tell them about the monster because we wouldn't be real friends otherwise.

I guess I'll just be alone.

_Day 38_

I went back to play with the other children. The man in the BOOM shop gave me a weird look. I went in but he was helping another person. A boy around my age was playing the bomb game. He sucked! He gave me a dirty look when he lost (because I laughed at him really loudly) and told me to leave. I did because the moving bombs made me feels weird. They are like living things but not. And they explode.

HA! That kid from the bomb shop needed my help. He was nice enough when he asked so I helped him. I want to be his friend. He's going on a real adventure. I bet he could find who hurt Mama. But he left before I could talk to him about it.

So lonely.

I asked the BOOM man if he'd sell me some bombs. He looked at me weird and said no. I spat in front of his door on the way out.


End file.
